Showing results by narrator "Gildart Jackson" in All Categories

When Caroline Thorpe succeeded in casting doubt on the verdict of the inquest into her brother’s death, she could not have anticipated what would follow. Freddie was Earl Thorpe of Burnham, and as the Kings Lake detectives, headed by DCI Cara Freeman, soon begin to realise, influential people...

Dirk Struan rose from humble beginnings to build Struan & Company, also known as the Noble House, into the world’s largest Far East trading company. He is now the Tai-Pan—Supreme Leader—of all Tai-Pans in China. Along the way, however, he made a powerful enemy. Tyler Brock, Struan’s rival from their early opium-smuggling days, also heads a large trading fleet, second in size only to Struan’s. But it is not only silks and spices that drive their mutual companies’ wealth—the opium trade is still booming.

The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words.

Ahren's life consists of being beaten up by his drunkard father or bullied by the village lads. But at the annual suitability tests for apprenticeships, the young boy finds himself selected by Falk, the guardian of the forest, to be his apprentice and his world is turned upside down.

This is DC Smith's third investigation with the Diver and Diver Associates agency. They have been asked by a member of Norfolk's aristocracy to look into the tragic death of her younger brother, Freddie, the late Lord Thorpe of the title. The inquest verdict was of misadventure, but it isn't long before Smith begins to suspect there has been a serious miscarriage of justice.

The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex-DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so.

The Thirteenth Paladin and his companions are finally reunited with each other and have found a worthy ally in the Eternal Empress—another Paladin who will take part in the war against the Adversary. But the effects of Ahren's journey through the empire have left their mark on him. And so, they all set off to Thousand Halls, the original home of the dwarfs, in the hope of finding the mysterious Father of the Mountain who will surely help Ahren in his recovery. If all goes to plan, the nations of Jorath will at last unite. Yet Ahren and his companions have underestimated the enemy....

Ahren can hardly believe his luck. His apprenticeship finally comes to an end, and Khara's interest in him is growing by the minute. He and his companions leave the Southern Jungles and sail westward, this time in search of two Paladins, who are apparently living a peaceful existence on one of the Isles of the Cutlass Sea. Yet their quest proves full of difficulties, for a war among the pirates has transformed the Cutlass Sea into a bubbling cauldron, hiding its own tragic drama.

Today, Europe finds itself in a fast-changing, polarized world dominated by Chinese-American rivalry. The European Union and its surrounding nonmember states, despite initial successes after the fall of the Berlin Wall, have failed to implement a strategy for success in the twenty-first century. Britain's exit from the Union has weakened both sides, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine has thrown these shortcomings into sharp relief. How should states across the continent position themselves in the decades to come?

Alex Verus is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop in London. And while Alex's own powers aren't as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future-allowing him to pull off operations that have a million-to-one-chance of success. But when Alex is approached by multiple factions to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever's inside must be beyond powerful.

The Paladins are still short one of their number for them to finally be considered a complete fighting force—the thirteen Champions of the gods. Hence, Ahren and his friends, make their way onto the Ice Fields in the far south, following what scant clues there are in their efforts to track down the man considered to be the father of all Forest Guardians and who was last seen hunting down the fearsome dragon, Four Claws. An odyssey on sea and ice awaits them

Time is running out for Ahren as he and Khara leave their companions under cover of darkness and make their way to the Eternal Empire. The Pall Cloud is spreading relentlessly, yet the full complement of 13 Paladins have still not gathered together. But the couple are finding it impossible to find a way through to the notoriously draconian and reclusive empress, and all their attempts to enlist her support in the war against the Adversary seem doomed to failure once Ahren falls into the clutches of Quin-Wa's Peace Sentinels. 

When Molly Williams is abducted and her husband's frantic plea for help reaches The 83 Trust, Kaine and his team are drawn into a violent new conflict. Their enemies are ruthless, their motives buried beneath layers of deception, and not even Kaine is prepared for the brutality that follows.

An edge-of-your-seat crime thriller starts with a vicious stabbing of a pretty teenage girl and her boyfriend on a local bus. She happens to be the mayor's niece. It's the final straw for the community. The police are desperate to get results and decide on a risky course of action involving undercover infiltration of the notorious Effingell Estate. Detective George Elms knows this hellish place extremely well, and his sharp investigative mind is put to work to solve the crime. The police are under immense media pressure and conveniently a local lowlife confesses to the attack.

The siege of the Brazen City has been lifted and the Paladin Bergen remains free. Following their victory, Ahren and his companions continue on their travels, this time to the Southern Jungles in search of information regarding the whereabouts of the female Paladin, Sunju. The journey is long and dangerous. Not only must they traverse the Nameless Desert and the untamed primeval forest, but hired assassins are hot on their heels along the Spear Path. And to top it all, the consequences of Jelninolan's extended absence from Evergreen could be fatal to her....

England, 1346: For Thomas Blackstone, the choice is easy - dance on the end of a rope for a murder he did not commit, or take up his war bow and join the king's invasion. As he fights his way across northern France, Blackstone learns the brutal lessons of war - from the terror and confusion of his first taste of combat, to the savage realities of siege warfare.

Ahren's enormous undertaking to unite the thirteen Paladins has, following years of dangerous journeying, come to a successful conclusion. Now there is only one task left for him to complete. He must lead the Champions of the gods, his other friends, and the free peoples of Jorath in an assault on the Obsidian Fortress. Yet the Adversary is intent on foiling his archenemies' plan before they reach his hordes lurking behind the compound walls. The Dark god's scheme is to spring the trap that was set centuries earlier in preparation for just such an event.

Detective Sergeant Chris Waters got the call at 05.29 that July morning. This is it, said DCI Reeve, you'll be first there, it's all yours, you're the crime scene manager. Suddenly, after months of waiting and wondering, Waters finds himself in at the deep end, and alone at the scene of a puzzling murder. As the investigation proceeds, the detectives at Kings Lake Central find themselves visiting familiar places and talking to some familiar faces, while old enmities reappear in the incident room. Before this is over, Chris Waters will need to make a career-changing decision.

Hardly have they left the Forest of Ire and its horrors behind them when the Thirteenth Paladin decides to head for the Green Sea with his friends to fulfil his old promise of bringing the necromancer to justice, who has been holding the fertile lands surrounding the horse people and their Paladin, Blazing Eyes, in his bony grip for far too long. But it is not alone the necromancer with his deadly traps who is testing the companions.

When young Tyballis discovers her husband has been arrested for murder, she is delighted. As a young orphan coerced to marry her abusive neighbor, she was horribly used. Now is her chance to be rid of him for good and find the confidence she never had. When Tyballis joins forces with the motley network of Andrew’s informers and thieves, they are lured into the dark and dangerous world of medieval London’s political intrigue and back alley slums.